Australia national under-21 speedway team
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| Association | Motorcycling Australia | ||||
| FIM code | MA | ||||
| Team manager | Mark Lemon | ||||
| Team captain | Nick Morris | ||||
| World Championships | |||||
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| Best result | 2nd (2012) | ||||
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| Best result | 1st - last one in 2010 (Darcy Ward) | ||||
The Australia national under-21 speedway team is the national under-21 motorcycle speedway team of Australia and is controlled by the Motorcycling Australia. Like the senior Australian team, the Under-21's are managed by former rider Mark Lemon.
The team has qualified to the Under-21 World Cup Final on four occasions, though they only raced in the Final three of those times. These came in 2008 when they finished fourth, 2011 when they won their Semi-final but were forced to withdraw due to travel cost and visa problems, 2012 when the team finished in second place, and again in 2013 when they finished fourth.
The Australian team was guaranteed a place in the 2015 World Championship Final due to it being held at the Olympic Park Speedway in Mildura on 31 October. It was the first time that the Under-21 Team Championship Final was held outside of Europe or the UK and was held just one week after the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix of Australia was run in the Victorian state capital Melbourne.[1] The Aussie's finished third on the night behind winners Poland and runner-up Denmark.[2]
Australia has produced three Under-21 World Champions: Leigh Adams (1992), Jason Crump (1995) and Darcy Ward (2009 and 2010). In 1983, Steve Baker won the European Under-21 Championship open for riders from all continents. The European Championship was renamed as the World Championship in 1988.
Crump would go on to win the Speedway World Championship in 2004, 2006 and 2009. Adams has won a record 10 Australian Championships and jointly holds the record for Australian Under-21 Championships with four wins with 2012 World Champion Chris Holder, while Ward is also a triple Australian Under-21 Champion. Baker won the South Australian Championship in 1985 and second in the Australian Championship in 1987.
The current Australian Under-21 team (at the 2015 World Championship Final) was Nick Morris (c), Max Fricke, Jack Holder and Brady Kurtz. The team finished third on 29 points in Mildura behind winners Poland who scored 50 points and runner-up Denmark who scored 39 points. Germany finished a distant 4th with just 5 points on the night.
Contents
Competition
* Due to cost of travel and visa problems, Australia withdrew from the 2011 Final,
Honours
Individual Under-21 World Championship
- 1983* -
Lonigo, Pista Speedway - Steve Baker 13pts - 1992 -
Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Speedway Stadion Pfaffenhofen - Leigh Adams 14+3pts - 1995 -
Tampere, Ratinan Stadion - Jason Crump 13+3pts - 2009 -
Goričan, Stadium Milenium - Darcy Ward 13pts - 2010 -
Gdańsk, 
Daugavpils, 
Pardubice - Darcy Ward 30+3pts
* Steve Baker's win in 1983 was when it was known as the European Under-21 Championship
See also
References
External links
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Under-21 motorcycle speedway national teams
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 National sports teams of Australia |
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